Beginning of an End
by NJBCshippers
Summary: 5 years after Dan reveals he's Gossip Girl, Serena says her I do's, and less than a year after, they call a quits. Now Serena is left with a choice on how to continue her post-marriage life.
1. Chapter 1

I'm bad at intros but this is basically a story about the failed marriage that is Derena and will eventually morph into Serenate. This is my first fanfic so please bear with me.

 _Prologue_

Only 6 months after she walks down the large staircase in her best friends beautiful condo in a long, flowing gold dress, she calls her crying hysterically. Blair can't even make out what she's saying, but before 30 seconds has passed, she's stormed out of her atelier, and is on her way to her best friends Park avenue apartment. At first, she doesn't believe her, that someone like Dan could be so harsh, so cruel, and could hurt someone that he vowed to love so much, and it saddened Blair beyond words, nobody knew how painful it was for her to see Serena so hurt. So in that exact moment, the girls packed Louis Vuttions full of clothes and fletted, Serena would never even step near the apartment ever again. That was the day Serena moved into Blairs, and it was also the last day she saw Dan, or even spoke to him. The next couple months were a whirlwind of tears, communicating through lawyers, and serious thoughts of running away. 16 of them to be exact, and every car ride to the airport, or even the multiple rides back up into the country were ruined by someone calling her in tears. So here we were, only a year after she said I do, Serena was 27, single, childless, everything she thought she wouldn't be at that age, but yet she's something she'd never imagined she'd ever be. For once, she's happy. She's happy to drink her coffee with Blair every morning, she's happy to go to interviews and host parties and do other socialite things, she's happy to pick up Henry everyday from St. Jude's elementary school and walk him to central park or to Serendipity, she enjoys her life truly. Nobody really knows what happened in those 6 months, what Dan did to her, why she was hurt so bad, not even Blair. Yet, nobody dares to ask her, there's something about her that feels new, that feels fresh. Legs look longer, tan looks darker, hair looks fuller, blonder. She's a new Serena, and everyone loves it.


	2. Chapter 2

Blair isn't sure how to ask or rather to tell Serena. So she decides brunch at Sarabeths would be the best place , where Serena might not overreact due to too many mimosas or maybe, she wouldn't even care. She'd say something like she was already looking for an apartment and that'd be the end of it. Blair was wrong. Dead wrong. Serena caused a scene, crying just like the time she called Blair about Humphrey. Maybe because she was a wee bit hungover or maybe because she was too drunk, but the paps didn't care, and before you knew it, Serena crying was on the cover of Page Six. While maybe every one of those combinations could have caused her meltdown, it was most definitely fear. Fear that Blair and Chuck didn't love her, and that's why they "politely" asked her to move out, or maybe she was scared to be alone again, being alone reminded her of her dark days and she didn't want to relive those. So later, in the privacy of her own home, she tells Blair this, and Blair can't help but to feel terrible for her, but she knows she's helping her make the right decision. "S, remember when you promised me you wouldn't run away?", Serena nods slowly, trying to see what Blair is getting too. "Well God Serena that's what you're doing. You've ran away from your reality to here, Chuck and Henry and I love you so much, that's why we want you to move out. You're so strong, you can do it. I believe in you. _We_ believe in you" At this point, they both were streaming tears down their faces, _again_. "I see how the paparazzi getting Henry hurt you so much, you can move to make him feel safer. And you know, you aren't alone. We do have another person you could still live with. Na-", before Blair could even finish Serena started crying more. Serena had finally broken down and told Blair everything, how Dan used to abuse her, how her and Nate slept together before the wedding, her failed pregnancy, and everything in between. It was her breaking point, and to be completely honest she didn't know why. Maybe because she had confided in Nate with all of those things, and honestly, living with him he would be confronting her constantly, asking her if she was okay. She felt better when she could simply forget about those things. Blair never asked her to move out again.

4 days later, Serena realizes that moving out is the best for her. She considers moving somewhere lowkey, maybe upstate to Bedford or Pound Ridge, or maybe even farther to somewhere in Connecticut. She eventually decides against it, reluctantly deciding to stay in the Big Apple. Her real estate agent takes her to too many places. None of them felt like _home_ to Serena, and that was something she oh so needed right now. A sense of home. On about apartment 50, she falls in love with one. It's everything she could she could ever want, and being the person she is, she buys it that day. The next afternoon, she decides to go alone, just to sit and enjoy her apartment, the one she bought all on her own when the unexpected happens. It starts off as what would be any other apartment visit, but even to Serena something feels off. She enters the apartment and into the elevator she goes when it hits her. She first heard the faint laughter, something of his engraved in her mind. Then she sees the shoes, then the suit, and panic starts to settle in. This is exactly what she wanted to avoid at this apartment, _him_. And yet, here he his. Before she can even think, his hand sticks through the elevator. He walks in and she looks up from her emails. "Nate?!"

I know it's terrible and short, but I've never been good at super long pieces. A little bit of cliffhanger there, do you guys think it's really Nate and if it is, why is he at her apartment building? A lot kinda went on so I hope you guys aren't confused bc I'm not the best writer. Hope y'all all have a good Thanksgiving and I'll try to have the next chapter up ASAP.


End file.
